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Calculate vSphere 5 Licenses with Powershell (UPDATED)

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VMware 51 Responses »

Jul 132011

VMware has announced the next generation of vSphere yesterday. Besides lots of new features, vSphere 5 also comes with a new licensing structure. For every licensed physical CPU, you get a certain amount of vRAM, which you will be able to allocate to virtual machine. Only the running VM’s will count towards your license limit.
Curious how the vSphere 5 licensing model will impact your license cost? Want to know how many vSphere 5 liceses you will need? The following script calculates exactly how many licenses you need for the different editions and how much overhead you will have left.

UPDATE 04-AUG-2011: vmware has increased vRAM entitlements for all editions of vSphere 5! I have updated the script (shown below and the attached script). The screenshot is still the old one. Please read the new Licensing PDF here for all the details.

NOTE: Please note that I add up all your pCpu’s, ignoring current license types. I also add up all your current vRAM usage (RAM assigned to powered on VM’s). I then show you different scenarios if you purchase license type x for ALL your pCpu’s. If your environment consists of a mix of vSphere editions, check out Alan Renouf’s script to analyse your environment.

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Remove vmware memory limits with Powershell

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VMware 3 Responses »

Jul 082011

Using Memory Limits in vmware vSphere can cause severe performance issues. The guest operating system assumes it can use all of the allocated memory, but vSphere will make sure the vm cannot use more than the memory limit. It does this by inflating a memory balloon using the balloon driver included with the vmware tools. The performance chart in the vSphere Client will show the virtual machine is ballooning. I never recommend using memory limits in vmware.
The following script will remove all memory limits in your vSphere infrastructure, preventing the problems described above. Continue reading »

Configure Syslog on Local Datastore with PowerCLI

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell 3 Responses »

Feb 022011

Configuring a syslog folder is convenient for troubleshooting ESXi. But it’s a pain you-know-where to configure manually across all your ESXi servers. Luckily, PowerCLI can help out. This script creates a folder on the local datastore and configures ESXi to write the syslog in that folder.
Enjoy!
Hugo
Continue reading »

Set vApp Guest Shutdown

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VMware 3 Responses »

Dec 222010

Annoyed by the default setting for VM’s inside a vApp? I was, because when you power down the vApp, the VM’s are powered down instead of being shutdown cleanly. It can be a tedious task to check and correct this setting for all your vApps. This little script solves that problem for you. Enjoy!

$VC = Connect-VIServer "MyvCenter.local"
 
ForEach ($Vapp in Get-VApp)
{	
	$VAppView = $VApp | Get-View
	ForEach ($Entity in $VAppView.VAppConfig.EntityConfig)
	{
		If ($Entity.StopAction -ne "guestShutdown")
		{
		$VAppConfigSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VAppConfigSpec
		$EntityConfig = New-Object VMware.Vim.VAppEntityConfigInfo
			$EntityConfig.Key = (Get-View $Entity.Key).MoRef
			$EntityConfig.StopAction = "guestShutdown"
		$VAppConfigSpec.EntityConfig = $EntityConfig
 
		$VAppView.UpdateVAppConfig($VAppConfigSpec)
		}
	}
}
 
Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

Download script: Set-VAppGuestShutdown (rename to .ps1)

Set VMware Snapshot Location with Powershell

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VI Toolkit 1.5, VMware 12 Responses »

Aug 272009

Snapshots are m*th3rfcukers. If you’re not careful, they will mass-murder your vms. Yet they allow you to time-travel! You want to use them, but how to prevent a massacre? Here’s how: relocate the delta files.

When you create a snapshot, the current state of the vm is preserved by leaving the disk files alone. All changes since the moment of creating the snapshot are written to delta files. The delta files are stored in the vm’s working directory. The working directory is – by default – the location where the vmx and other config files reside. If that datastore runs out of free space – especially if it also contains disk files – you’re in a bit of a kerfuffle. Vms not booting or being frozen as if they stared into Medusa’s reptoid eyes.

So you can do two things: reserve overhead in your datastores and stay afraid some overactive snapshot might destroy your environment, or set the working directory of your vms to some big-ass datastore you don’t use for anything else and let the snapshots enjoy themselves. If they fill up the datastore, they only kill all vms with snapshots, not the rest.

But how, you ask? You can edit the vmx files of you vms manually - which requires your vms to be powered down – and add the line: workingDir = “/vmfs/volumes/<insanely long guid you need to somehow find>/”

Or, you run my script and change the working location on the fly:

Create a vSwitch Port Overview with Powershell

PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VMware 2 Responses »

Jun 242009

WARNING: VMware vmotion does not check wether there are sufficient ports available on the virtual switch on the destination host. Migrating a vm to a host with insufficient ports will cause the vmotion to complete without warnings, yet the virtual NIC will be disconnected! This issue is descripbed in this KB article.
The solution to this problem is to create vSwitches with sufficient ports, obviously. Do you want to know how many ports are currently being used on every vSwitch in your environment? vSphere PowerCLI to the rescue! Try the following script:

Oneliner: Service Console IP with PowerCLI

Oneliners, PowerCLI 4.0, PowerShell, VMware 4 Responses »

May 262009

Getting the Service Console IP addresses of your ESX servers with vSphere PowerCLI (formerly known as the VI Toolkit for Powershell):

Get-VMHost | Select Name, @{N="ConsoleIP";E={(Get-VMHostNetwork).ConsoleNic | ForEach{$_.IP}}}

Translate Vml to LUN Path with Powershell

PowerShell, VMware 3 Responses »

Mar 232009

While checking the vmkernel logs on our VMware ESX Servers today, I ran into some errors referencing luns using a vml string. It looks something like this: vml.827149017315617. I would like to know what lun this error is referencing, but I prefer the LUN Path notation, e.g.: vmhba1:2:137. So I wrote this Powershell VI Toolkit function that can translate the vml into the lun path:

# Function: Translate a VML (e.g.: vml.9364839746917650) to a Lun Path (e.g.: vmhba1:2:137)
 
function Translate-VmlToLunPath
	{
	param(
	[string]$VMHostName,
	[string]$Vml
	)
	Return (Get-VMHost $VMhostName | Get-ScsiLun | Where {$_.ConsoleDeviceName -match $Vml}).CanonicalName
	}

Feed it a host name and a vml string and it will return the lun path. Here’s an example script that uses this function when looking for LUNs with SCSI Reservation Errors:

# Example use in a script: Get LUNs with SCSI Reservation Conflicts
 
$VIServerName = "myVIServer"
$NumLines = 1000
 
$VC = Connect-VIServer $VIServerName
 
ForEach ($VMHost in Get-VMHost)
	{
	ForEach ($Log in ($VMHost | Get-Log -Key vmkernel -NumLines $NumLines))
		{
		$MatchedEntries = $Log.Entries | Where {$_ -match "reservation" -and $_ -match "vml.\d*"}
		ForEach ($VmlId in $matches.values)
			{
			$myObj = "" | Select VMHost, ErrorLun
			$myObj.VMHost = $VMHost.Name
			$myObj.ErrorLun = Translate-VmlToLunPath -VMHostName $VMHost.Name -Vml $VmlId
			Return $myObj
			}
		}
	}
 
Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

Enjoy!
Hugo

Checking VMware NTP configuration with Powershell

Oneliners, PowerShell, VI Toolkit 1.5, VMware 3 Responses »

Feb 122009

Thanks to the VMware VI Toolkit 1.5, checking the NTP settings on all your VMware ESX Servers is as easy as a oneliner:

Get-VMHost | Sort Name | Select Name, @{N=”NTP”;E={Get-VMHostNtpServer $_}}

VI Toolkit 1.5 Getting Started and Undocumented Functions

PowerShell, VI Toolkit 1.5, VMware 3 Responses »

Jan 292009

0. Installing
Installing or upgrading the VI Toolkit 1.5 is as easy as Next, Next, Finish. And using the new VI Toolkit shortcut on your desktop allows quick and easy access to the Toolkit. But what about running these cmdlets from your scripts or integrating it with other snapins? Read on!

1. Setting up your profile
The new desktop shortcut does two things for you: it starts powershell with the VI Toolkit snapin loaded and it runs a script which modified the look of the Powershell window ánd adds some cool extra functions. If you want to have the same functionality in your normal Powershell window and your scripts, you have to copy some stuff to your Powershell profile. First, set up your profile:

a. Start a normal Powershell window.
b. Run the following command: Test-Path $profile
c. Did it return True? Then you already have a profile file. Did it return False, do step d.
d. Create a profile file by running: New-Item $profile -ItemType File

2. Adding the snap-in
a. Open your profile by running: Invoke-Item $profile
b. Add the following line to the profile file to load the snap-in: Add-PSSnapIn VMware.VimAutomation.Core -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

3. Adding undocumented functions
a. Open the file C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VIToolkitForWindows\Scripts\Initialize-VIToolkitEnvironment.ps1
b. Copy the following Function Blocks to your profile file: Get-VICommand, New-DatastoreDrive, New-VIInventoryDrive, Get-VIToolkitDocumentation, Get-VIToolkitCommunity

4. Undocumented Functions?
Ok, you can read about them in the Administrator’s Guide (http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/windowstoolkit/wintk10/doc/viwin_admin.pdf), but you might overlook these functions because they are not cmdlets, so Get-Command won’t show them (nor will Auto-Complete work for them).
Here’s a short description of each of them:

Get-VICommand: Displays all VI Toolkit cmdlets (equal to: Get-Command -PSSnapIn VMware.VimAutomation.Core);
New-DatastoreDrive: Allows you to browse a datastore like a drive (Example Usage: New-DatastoreDrive -Name <DriveName> -Datastore (Get-Datastore <DatastoreName>); Then jump to the drive: cd <DriveName>: );
New-VIInventoryDrive: Allows you to browse your Virtual Infrastructure like a drive (Example Usage: New-VIInventoryDrive -Name <DriveName> -Location (Get-Inventory <Folder-/Cluster-/ResourcePool-/HostName>); Then jump to drive: cd <DriveName>: );
Get-VIToolkitDocumentation: Opens the VI Toolkit Command Reference Help File;
Get-VIToolkitCommunity: Opens the VI Toolkit Community website.

More examples and scripts here soon!
Hugo

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PeetersOnline

Calculate vSphere 5 Licenses with Powershell (UPDATED)

Remove vmware memory limits with Powershell

Configure Syslog on Local Datastore with PowerCLI

Set vApp Guest Shutdown

Set VMware Snapshot Location with Powershell

Create a vSwitch Port Overview with Powershell

Oneliner: Service Console IP with PowerCLI

Translate Vml to LUN Path with Powershell

Checking VMware NTP configuration with Powershell

VI Toolkit 1.5 Getting Started and Undocumented Functions

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